Classic early 80's hardcore; most of the material has been unavailable for over a decade!

Articles of Faith was one of the premier American hardcore bands of the early '80s. Combining thrash, reggae, and noise, the group was notable for its political lyrics, three-guitar attack, and sponsorship of the Chicago scene. AOF released two Eps and two LPs, and toured North America many times from 1983-1985. The group disbanded in 1985, but reunited with all original members for a brief European tour in 1991. They have not played together since.

These two AOF releases (see Vol. 2 here) compile all the vinyl releases of AOF, and have never been released on CD in the United States.

Contains AOF material from 1981- 1984 : All tracks from the compilation LP, The Mastertape (1982); the first EP, What We Want Is Free (1982); the first Bob Mould-produced LP, Give Thanks (1984); 3 Bonus Tracks and 1 unreleased live track. (CD contains 20 tracks; LP has 17 songs.)

"It's been said before and it'll probably be said again, but AOF were among the top of their class; even today the intensity and fervor of the era's better hardcore are still evident within these digital grooves. Still holds up after all these years, which is more than you can say about certain other period pieces."- Shredding Paper

"In Hüsker Dü's heyday, Bob Mould paid a great deal of lip service to two lesser-known Midwestern bands: Die
Kreuzen and Articles of Faith. Neither has received much exposure from the revisionist tastemakers out to
prove their canonical knowledge of the underground online.Critics and fans still argue over which band was the first to move beyond the naïve political lyrics and
four-chord call-and-response anthems of early 80s punk. It's a safe bet to say the first and best apolitical,
personal punk rock came from Hüsker Dü, who looked inward almost from the start, but groups like Mission of
Burma and R.E.M. reduce these black-and-white arguments to dust. What people are striving to acknowledge in
these debates is that certain bands-- like the Dischord acts everyone points toward-- were able to outgrow
comparatively amateurish, frenetic origins, and record punk songs that conveyed more than simple (often
misguided) rebellion. Articles of Faith are a textbook case, one of half a dozen or so American bands to
have named a song "Buried Alive".Articles of Faith were often accused of ripping off the DC punk sound in their early days, and that may be
true to an extent, but they put forward hook-driven rock 'n' roll choruses comparable to those Slapshot and
Youth of Today were laying down a few years later. While writing and recording their first wave of not-quite
formulaic hardcore, full of left wing political preening ("Prison", "Street Fight", "Bad Attitude"), Articles
of Faith penned a tune as startlingly ahead of its time as the best Mission of Burma tracks. "Every Man for
Himself", from the 1984 LP Give Thanks, is the sound of art rising from the mire of accepted forms.
The recently reissued recordings Fugazi members made as One Last Wish in 1986 offer a similar glimpse into
the inspiring results possible when talented musicians feel the impetus to break out of their accepted roles.After recording Give Thanks, the band hit their stride with the Wait EP, three tracks that set
personal anxiety against the macho fraternity pressure invading hardcore. "I've Got Mine", the title track,
and "Buy This War" are inexplicably ignored standouts within a massively overrated, overexploited genre.
Laid alongside the band's 1985 finale, In This Life, and in contrast to the simpler material on
Volume 1, the second of these two single-disc anthologies is remarkably superior. Taking some
inspiration from their supporters in Hüsker Dü, the band got serious about songwriting, something very few
punk acts bothered to do in the 80s. Like Dag Nasty, who came in their wake, Articles of Faith mastered the
screaming punk guitar lead, and injected vocal harmonies to bring their songs out from under the monotonous
chanting punk rock was still trapped in."- Pitchfork